Erzgebirge folk art

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Miners and angels as typical products of Erzgebirge handicrafts

The Erzgebirge folk art is one of the main cultural traditions of the Erzgebirge . It encompasses diverse forms of expression of creative work beyond the classical or modern arts and in particular the production of figures, sculptures and pictures. In a broader sense, folk poetry and literature and the Erzgebirge songs are part of the Erzgebirge folk art. The Erzgebirge claims to be the largest closed folk art area in Germany.

An important part of the Erzgebirge folk art is the production of representational products. The history of its origins is closely related to mining , which has had a significant impact on the development of the Ore Mountains since the 12th century. The economic downturn in mining and its extensive decline in the 19th century promoted the creation of additional and replacement income, depending on local conditions. In addition to straw weaving and bobbin lace, this included, in particular, the artful processing of wood, which characterizes and dominates the concept of Erzgebirge folk art.

The motifs of this Erzgebirge wood art are essentially related to mining and the mining world of work and life. Classic products are figures of miners , nutcrackers , Christmas angel , candle arches , tires animals , Smokers , music boxes and wings pyramids . To this day, they are mainly made by hand by wooden toy makers in smaller workshops (see also: Wooden toy production in the Ore Mountains ).

The center of the production of Erzgebirge folk art is in the region around Seiffen , which is also known as the "toy corner". Here some of the manufacturers have come together to form Dregeno , the cooperative of wood turners , sculptors, wood and toy manufacturers. The Erzgebirge Toy Museum in Seiffen offers a large collection of Erzgebirge folk art . In the neighboring town of Neuhausen there is a nutcracker museum that houses a collection with more than 5,000 copies. The Museum of Saxon Folk Art in Dresden also has a larger collection of Erzgebirge folk art.

History of origin

Erzgebirge wood art

Wood processing has always been an important branch of the economy in the densely wooded Ore Mountains. The ore mining, which began in Freiberg in the 12th century and covered large parts of the mountains in the following centuries, was dependent on the use of pit wood . Wood was also the most important material for the construction of buildings and for the manufacture of everyday objects (dishes, furniture, tools, etc.). The electoral wood order for the area around Lauterstein (1560) and the Purschensteiner wood order (1588) confirm the activities of wood handicrafts that made wooden vessels and tools for the 15th and 16th centuries. And also for Grünhainichen , today a center of wooden toy manufacture in the Ore Mountains, a wooden goods dealer is already mentioned in 1578.

Nonetheless, the majority of the population in the mining towns in particular worked in mining or in mining-related professions. However, mining was also subject to economic fluctuations. In times of war, such as the Thirty Years 'War (1618–1648) or the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), production almost came to a standstill. In addition, on the one hand, after mining the ore-rich near-surface ores in the so-called Iron Hat, mining had to penetrate deeper and deeper areas. The decreasing ratio of costs and benefits led in some places to the cessation of mining because profitability was no longer given. On the other hand, some of the deposits were simply exhausted and erased after some centuries of extraction.

In these times of declining and dying mining, the search for additional and substitute income gained in importance. The natural conditions left little scope for agricultural work, so that the intensification of wood processing was obvious. New branches of wood processing quickly developed; in West Erzgebirge , especially in the area Schneeberg and Annaberg wood carving and the Middle Ore Mountains to the towns of Marienberg , Pobershau and Seiffen wood turner , which was operated as opposed to carving from the beginning as a profession.

In the middle of the 17th century, the plate and spindle turners came into being , which initially mainly produced everyday objects. Over time, the production of toys and figures such as miners, angels and pyramids, including in large formats, developed. In particular, large pyramids and large candle arches set up or attached outdoors characterize the appearance of communities in the Ore Mountains in the run-up to Christmas. The erection of the large pyramids is celebrated in some places as a festival (under the name "Pyramidenanschieben"), with which the Advent season officially begins.

Folk art from the Ore Mountains , 1967
Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1967, MiNr 1333.jpg
Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1967, MiNr 1334.jpg


10 pfennigs
20 pfennigs

In December 1967, Deutsche Post issued two postage stamps with folk art from the Ore Mountains in the GDR. The stamp with a face value of 10 Pfennig shows a nutcracker and two smokers, the other stamp with 20 Pfennig shows Lichtengel and Bergmann. The design came from Dietrich Dorfstecher .

Objects such as local pyramids, life-size or even larger-than-life figures in the smoker's style are also set up and exhibited outside of the Ore Mountains and Saxony, especially in connection with Christmas markets. Not all of these objects were made in the Ore Mountains. So were z. B. the largest nutcrackers and smokers in the Erzgebirge style shown at Christmas markets, which can be seen at the CentrO Christmas market in Oberhausen , made in Neuenkirchen-Vörden .

A development in the industry can be seen not only in the geographical distribution of works in the "Erzgebirge style", but also in the fact that the variety of motifs in traditional objects is increasing. This is particularly evident when visiting the Nutcracker Museum in Neuhausen. In the Erzgebirge itself, creations are developed that have little to do with products from the early days, e.g. B. an extremely slim, dark-skinned angel figure. There is now a trend towards high-priced products. So is z. B. exhibited a Christmas pyramid in a shop in Seiffen, which is said to cost more than € 10,000. The question of whether the works made in the Ore Mountains can literally be assessed as "hand-made" is controversial, since more and more work steps are being carried out in the production of machines.

Lace making

Lace makers in the new Erzgebirge costume, Schlettau 1936

When making bobbins, different types of tips are made using spindle-shaped bobbins and the thread wound on them.

gallery

Protection of folk art from foreign competition

Nativity scene from the Ore Mountains at the Christmas market in Leer (East Friesland)
A large pyramid from Wolkenstein was given away to the partner community Bad Bentheim

"Ore Mountain Folk Art" is not only a generic term for products that can be assigned to the "Ore Mountain Style" (and were manufactured in the Ore Mountains), but also a registered word mark of the Association of Ore Mountain Craftsmen and Toy Manufacturers for the products: Nutcrackers made of wood; Musical instruments, namely as handcrafted wood turner's, carver's and joiner's goods made music boxes with decorative fittings and air conditioners with built-in music; Goods made of wood, namely room and table decorations made of wood; Wooden boxes and chests of drawers; Wall decorations and dioramas made of wood and in combination with glass, metals and textile materials; Erzgebirge pyramids; Decorative figures, namely incense figures, figural nutcrackers, figural miniatures, Christmas cribs; Incense boxes; Smokehouse; Easter decorations made of wood, namely Easter figurines, Easter eggs and daffodils made of wood; Table decorations; Birthday numbers; Birthday characters; Sculptures made of wood; Chandelier spiders made of wood and in combination with glass and metals; Schwibbogen of wood and metal; turned wooden parts for arts and crafts; Toys made of wood, straw or textile materials, including in combination; Christmas tree decorations made of wood, straw or metal, including in combination; Erzgebirge Christmas decorations; Bells and chimes for Christmas trees .

A sensually perceptible form of protection by a word mark consists in affixing stickers to the doors of shops or on objects, which indicate, like a quality seal, that only original goods are sold in the shop or that the product is original goods .

The association also has numerous other brands related to Erzgebirge folk art, such as "Erzgebirgische Holzkunst", "Erzgebirgische Nutcrackers", "Olbernhauer Reiterlein", "Seiffener Reifenvieh" and many more a rider on a rocking horse .

The word mark, however, only protects against the misuse of the term “Erzgebirge folk art” by producers and sellers of goods that were not manufactured in the Erzgebirge or on behalf of companies located there. However, the word mark does not protect against foreign producers who manufacture goods in the “Erzgebirge style” without claiming that these were made in the traditional way exclusively in the Erzgebirge. For example, the headlines B. 2006 an Emsländer who not only had angels in the “Erzgebirge style” and smokers made in China, but also sold them cheaply in a shop in Seiffen. Allegedly, customers could not find any significant difference between the products of the Emslander and the original goods that had been produced in Seiffen by residents there, a statement that, however, raises the suspicion that it was forbidden plagiarism , which was mainly produced for this reason unsuspecting buyers mistake them for products actually made in the Ore Mountains.

Folk art from the Ore Mountains is also protected by the Design Act , formerly known as the “ Design Act ”. This prohibits the copying of templates by unauthorized persons. The prerequisite for a ban is that the wood processor in the Erzgebirge produces works that are "the result of a personal, creative activity". The overall aesthetic impression of the original work and its copy must not exceed a certain degree of similarity. In 2016, Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk rated companies based in China that manufacture goods in the “Erzgebirge style” as a “ plagiarism branch ”.

Success of protection efforts

The above Emsländer could not remain active in Seiffen either as a goods developer or as a trader; To this day, however, he sells goods in the “Erzgebirge style” over the Internet. The “ Handelsblatt ” certified in 2009 (before the introduction of the statutory minimum wage in Germany ) that the goods it sells from China offer 80 percent of the quality of domestic goods at 30 percent of the price.

In 2016, the German Press Agency distributed a report on the apprenticeship as a wooden toy maker . The profile of the profession is strongly oriented towards the needs of the Ore Mountains. Today, trainees in the Erzgebirge learn how to design toys using CAD and how to work with CNC machines . The job prospects are good.

literature

  • Manfred Bachmann : Wooden toys from the Erzgebirge , Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1984
  • Igor A. Jenzen: The Saturn Festival for the princely wedding of 1719 and the Erzgebirge folk art. In: Announcements of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz eV 2 and 3/2019, pp. 84–93
  • Werner Pflugbeil : On the historical development of mining wood carving in the Ore Mountains . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter Heft 1/1972, pp. 5–11

See also

Web links

Commons : Erzgebirgische Volkskunst  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martina Schattkowsky (ed.): Erzgebirge. Series Cultural Landscapes of Saxony, Vol. 3, Dresden / Leipzig 2010, p. 149
  2. ^ History of the toy museum. Erzgebirge Toy Museum Seiffen , accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  3. ↑ We and our passion for collecting ... Nutcracker Museum Neuhausen, accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Search for: Museum of Saxon Folk Art | Ore Mountains. In: Online Collection. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Manfred Bachmann : Wooden toys from the Erzgebirge , Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1984, p. 16f.
  6. ↑ Nutcracker and smoker built. Giant Christmas figures from Fehrenkamp stand at the Centro . New Osnabrück newspaper . November 14, 2017
  7. ↑ Erzgebirgskunst Drechsel: Sternkopf-Engel Caribbean Summer
  8. ↑ German Patent and Trade Mark Office: Register number: DD653702 (word mark "Erzgebirgische Volkskunst"; registration date; owner: Association of Erzgebirgischer Kunsthandwerker und Toymacher eV)
  9. ↑ Original instead of plagiarism - German craftsmanship. Tino Günther , Member of the Landtag, campaigns for the Erzgebirge artisans in the Saxon state parliament . In: On site . Edition 4/2006, p. 4, online as a Word file ( Memento from December 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ).
  10. ↑ The brands of the association. In: diekunstzumleben.com. Association of Erzgebirge Craftsmen and Toy Manufacturers, accessed on June 1, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Maxim Leo: Johannes Schulte disrupts the German Christmas order. He sells angels and incense smokers from Shanghai in the Ore Mountains. The China cracker . berliner-zeitung.de, December 23, 2006
  12. ↑ Uta Kruse: smoker male . The time . Edition 50/1995, December 8, 1995
  13. ↑ China hot for Nutcracker ( Memento from December 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). MDR, December 26, 2016
  14. ↑ Rainer Nehren village: economic region Erzgebirge - Smoking Men in severe distress . Handelsblatt . December 13, 2009
  15. ↑ Julia Räsch (dpa): Makes children shine: Apprenticeship as a toy maker . Aachen newspaper . April 25, 2016